Roundup: Krasnye Krylia In Command

Aaron Miles had 14 points for Krasnye Krylia, who are one step away from reaching the Quarter-Finals of the Russian Cup

Krasnye Krylia have a firm grip on their Russian Cup Eight-Final tie with Sparta&K Vidnoje after pulling away in the fourth quarter for an 89-65 first-leg triumph.

Nikita Balashov led a balanced Red Wings attack with 20 points and he also corralled nine rebounds.

Serguei Bazarevitch's side put one foot in the next round of the competition with a dominating display in the last frame when they outscored their hosts, 31-13.

"We had talked a lot about the need of taking responsibility and wanted to use 10 to 12 players in the game," Bazarevitch said.

"However, we allowed the hosts to stay in the game for a long time and as a consequence had to use a very limited rotation.

"All that changed only in the fourth quarter, when we finally started to pick up our defensive play and this brought us to the desired result."

The return leg will be played 23 October.

Krasnye Krylia are in the EuroChallenge and will open their campaign at home to Keravnos on 7 November.

Shuler Lost For Season

SLUC Nancy's worst fears have been realized with high-scoring shooting guard Jamal Shuler having been lost for the season to a knee injury.

Shuler, 26, only played six minutes on Monday night in the team's French league opener against Le Mans before getting hurt and after the defeat, coach Jean-Luc Monschau expressed the opinion that his American star's injury was very serious.

Medical examinations have shown that he tore his cruciate cross ligament and will be out of action for between six to eight months.

Shuler has received numerous messages of support on his Twitter account, @jama1shu1er.

He tweeted: "I'm humbled and blessed to receive the love and support from ppl I look up 2 and ppl I know personally even ppl I don't know...God is great."

Nancy will now go into the EuroChallenge season without a player who averaged 13.9 points per game last season.